GM Europe’s UK unit, Vauxhall, has announced that it will create 550 new jobs in the UK as it adds a shift at the van-making plant in Luton and adds jobs at Ellesmere Port ahead of the next generation Astra model’s introduction in 2015.
Some 250 new jobs at Luton will be added in January as the van-making plant adds a second shift.
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GM Europe chief Karl-Thomas Neumann told just-auto that the Luton factory is doing a great job and that the new Vivaro van and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) are an important part of GM Europe’s strategy. “The old one was so successful that we could not build enough,” he said. “We hope the new one will be even more successful. We have a dedicated LCV business group now. We are now in a position to go back to two shift operation at Luton and I am very pleased with that.”
Neumann said that the van market, especially in the UK, is growing and that Vauxhall can capitalise on that with its latest product. “We’re also seeing a shift in demand with more online deliveries being made for urban/residential drop-off and the big fleets in that business are upgrading and expanding. So demand prospects in the sector are extremely positive and our latest product also delivers enhanced performance and efficiency.
“Our new product is coinciding very nicely with positive developments in the market.”
Vauxhall’s Luton facility (currently 1,200 employees) builds the recently launched Vivaro van and will be adding the 250 employees to increase output next year. In 2011, Luton won the contract to build the new Vivaro, entailing a GBP185m investment.
Around 300 new jobs will also be added at the Vauxhall Ellesmere Port plant in the north of England. The plant makes the Astra model and currently operates on two shifts but as sales volumes build with the 2015 model, more employees are required to cope with increased output at the facility. The new jobs will be phased in over the first quarter of 2015.
“It’s good to operate a car plant, any car plant, at three-shifts,” Neumann noted.
In 2012, Ellesmere Port won the contract to build the next generation, all-new Astra. Production of this model begins towards the end of 2015. The agreement runs into the next decade and secured a GBP125m investment.
